Without mentioning that lead singer Shaun Morgan was ill, Winterfresh SnoCore [ tickets ] headliner Seether [ tickets ] stepped aside and gave Shinedown [ tickets ] top billing for the tour's Tuesday (2/7) stop at Tempe, AZ's Marquee Theatre.

To ease Morgan's burden, the members of Seether, all seated on stools, played an hour-long acoustic set that well represented their hard-edged rock sound. Songs like "Fine Again," the single from their latest album, "Remedy," came across as even more powerful than the recorded versions.

"So we figured we would do something different tonight because it was only three months ago that we were here or something," said Morgan, who, according to his publicist, was ill.

"We wanted to give you a taste of how the songs are written and how we do them before we make them heavy for you," he added.

The fans did not seem to mind that Seether didn't perform the advertised "plugged-in" set. Kicking off with the hit "Gasoline," the group blasted through a number of well-known songs including "Needles" and "Broken," which, on CD, Morgan performs with girlfriend Amy Lee of Evanescence.

During a particularly poignant moment in the show, Morgan played a long guitar instrumental, then dedicated "Fine Again" to two fellow rockers who died in recent years.

"This song goes out to a couple of friends of ours we lost out on the road," Morgan said. "The first one is Dave Williams from a band called Drowning Pool. The second one is Dimebag f---ing Darrell from Pantera."

At one point during "Fine Again," Morgan sang the line "dying again" without the backing of instruments, which earned approval from the crowd. The somber song brought about body surfing, a rarity for acoustic performances.

After wrapping up a touching version of "Broken," Morgan explained the irony of the SnoCore tour's name.

"We have been on the road now for three weeks and we haven't seen any snow. It's kind of f---ing misleading," he said as the crowd laughed.

In between sips of Gatorade and water, Morgan tucked his hair behind his ears and strummed softly to begin "Diseased," from the band's latest album, "Karma and Effect." The song was the only one during which Morgan's voice cracked. Otherwise, he passed off a stellar show.

The set ended with a cover of Pearl Jam's "Immortality" and Seether's most recent hit, "Remedy."

Replacing Seether as the headliner for the night, Shinedown was the direct opposite of its tourmates. Vocalist Brent Smith was a spitfire on stage, acting as a rock-and-roll cheerleader for the crowd.

Smith arrived on stage to a barrage of screaming from the standing-room-only crowd, to which he responded by spraying water over the audience and yelling "Get you're asses up!"

Smith has the stage presence of a veteran performer, knowing exactly how to play to the crowd with his messiah-like stances, sexual innuendo and shout-outs.

Shinedown, which is promoting 2005's "Us and Them," offered a strong, hour-long strong set worthy of an arena performance.

In between acts, which also included Halestorm [ tickets ] and Flyleaf [ tickets ], videos of extreme winter sports stunts, set to punk and rap music, were projected onto a screen.